In a "Policy Statement" in PEDIATRICS, vol.100, No. 6, of December 1997, pp. 1035-1039, the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasized the benefits of breasffeeding ba- bies (human milk) over bottle feeding (such as cow milk). This article contains also a vast number of references showing the better health of babies fed with breastmilk. However, some problems either on the mother's side or on the baby's side or both can prevent successful breastfeeding (see Righard L, Alade M O, "Sucking technique and its effect on success of breastfeeding", Birth, 1992; 19; pp.185-189 or Neifert M, Lawrence R, Seacat J, "Nipple confusion: toward a formal definition" J. Pediatr., 1995, 126, pp.125-129). Meanwhile, the term "nipple confusion" became known for a phenomenon which is based on different suction "techniques" a baby has to apply when sucking at the breast or from a bottle. Since a baby grasps relations to a wide extent with the mouth, it cannot differentiate between a nipple of a breast and that of a bottle. However, sucking on a breast requires a different technique, more comparable with milking a cow's udder which is concurrently pressed and stroked along, than sucking a bottle's nipple (where milk comes out with much less effort). In this way, a baby fed too much by a bottle can forget how to suck a breast. Of course, according to the above "Policy Statement", this leads to a loss of immune defense of the baby and, thus, it is easier subject to illnesses and diseases.
To avoid this "nipple confusion", some hospitals have begun feeding breast milk with a spoon, in case the mother has not enough milk herself. This is to avoid sucking from a bottle's nipple, but is, of course, very troublesome. Therefore, the problem exists as to how to feed a baby when the mother is not available for some reason or has not sufficient milk for her own.